Timekeeping
by FortuneAly
Summary: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time adaptation. When the contents of Thievious Racconus disappear, it's up to the gang to stop whoever's messing with the Cooper history.
1. A Few Years Later

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

The full moon shines on a city with lights on at night with various museums, landmarks, and other cultural places for tourists of various species to see. This was Paris, France, and above the Eiffel Tower, a figure leapt from there and caught hold of a clothesline with a cane.

_I should probably just start at the beginning. The name's Sly, Sly Cooper. And I'm a thief from a long line of thieves. In fact, thieving is the family business._

He made his way atop the rooftops of various buildings to a museum. Along the way, he reflected on how he got into this situation.

_And business was _good._ Although, until recently, I considered myself retired. Having hung up my mask and cane, I was enjoying life on the other side of the law._

* * *

A raccoon with brown eyes wearing a tuxedo watched the fireworks from the balcony at a museum celebrating its grand opening. The raccoon, the famous (or infamous if you're on the side of the cops) Sly Cooper, looked on depressed, thinking of the sacrifices he made to get here.

That was until a fox with long blue hair and brown eyes wearing a stunning blue dress, blue high-heeled shoes, yellow fingerless gloves, and a blue collar holding a purse with cuffs dangling from it. This was his current partner and girlfriend.

_In the company of a certain Interpol agent named Carmelita Fox._

The fox went up to him and straightened up his red bow tie.

_She and I had a history, which generally involved her trying to lock me up. Sooo...I should mention our current situation was only possible because she thought I had amnesia._

The two embraced, living in this moment of love.

_I didn't._

* * *

Back inside the museum, the party was in full swing. Guests were chatting, critics were admiring the art and artifacts, and all in all, it was an enjoyable time. Sly and Carmelita gave a toast to their relationship and clinked their martini glasses.

_It was great to finally enjoy each other's company without a Shock Pistol being involved and we quickly put the past behind us._

While Carmelita wasn't looking, however, his eyes gleamed over a priceless Chinese warlord helmet. Getting a closer look, he found it ripe for the picking.

_But as time went on, the old "itch" came back. And I knew I _needed_ to pull a heist._

* * *

A few days later, he was on the same balcony, now wearing clothes similar to that of a burglar's own. His target was that same warlord helmet he saw earlier at the grand opening.

_I should also mention that, as a Master Thief, I only steal from other thieves. So it took me a while, but I finally found what I was looking for. My target was an upstart art mogul, a real hot shot collector. He seemed respectable, and even opened a new museum. But I could smell a rat._

He took out some high-tech binoculars to find some rats unloading a truck filled with artifacts, unaware that someone was sneaking up behind him.

_Reliable sources told me he was dealing in black market antiques worth millions. So I felt he should "share the wealth"._

Suddenly, a turtle in a high-tech wheelchair wearing glasses over beady black eyes and protective gear popped up in his binoculars and waved. Sly was more than ecstatic to see him, for it was one of his best friends, Bentley. He even brought a jar full of chocolate chunk cookies to remind him of their first heist back when they were children.

Sly took a bite of one, and indulged in the rush of nostalgia.

_I was working on a plan when one night, as if on cue, Bentley showed up. Bentley was the brains of our operation, the mastermind. We grew up in the same orphanage, where we bonded over stealing cookies. Our very first heist. And we've been best friends and partners ever since._

His second moment of happiness came when Bentley gave him his gold hooked cane back. He immediately got to spire jumping and running from rooftop to rooftop, feeling the thrills coming back to him.

_We haven't seen each other for a while, but I knew immediately that something was up._

During the time they were on the balcony, the two got caught up on something big that was affecting the Cooper Clan, possibly for good.

* * *

In a laboratory a couple of years ago, Bentley created wine from grapes thanks to a machine he invented. He clinked glasses with Penelope, his current fiancée.

_Bentley had been enjoying his time off, too, building a new lab from scratch with his fiancée and fellow tech wiz, Penelope. She joined the team on our last caper and the two of them had really hit it off._

The two were always busy. Be it working on a new invention, catching up on Sci-Fi movies, or just exchanging techno-babble, you never saw them with nothing to do. Until...

_Apparently, they just finished work on a top-secret project, when Penelope had simply...vanished._

* * *

"This isn't a joke anymore, Penelope!" Bentley called out. He had been searching frantically for her for the past few days with no luck.

_Bentley was worried sick. He searched frantically, but found nothing. Then, he noticed something that completely stunned him._

Going up to the reacting chamber that contained a tome titled the "Thievious Raccoonus", he took it out and opened it up...to find that it contents were fading away.

_In his spare time, Bentley had been researching the Thievious Raccoonus, the Master Thief's handbook passed down through the Cooper family for generations. Its pages overflowing with the exploits and secret techniques of my esteemed ancestors. Only now, those pages weren't so full. In fact, they were disappearing right before Bentley's eyes._

He knew what he had to do.

_Realizing there was no time to waste, he gathered his gear and raced off to Paris._


	2. Back Together and Better Than Ever

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

In a stadium, Bentley watched the cars race by while on occasion glancing at a turtle shell themed PDA. The screen depicted various photos of a pink hippopotamus with brown eyes over pilot's goggles a luchador mask over his face, a light blue shirt, a large belt on the bottom of it, a white scarf on his neck, and white boots, including those that depicted him with Sly and Bentley. This was Murray, Sly and Bentley's best friend and strongman.

_The first thing Bentley did was track down Murray, the third in our trio. Murray was our enforcer, the muscle...and the guy who had eaten all the cookies we stole back in our orphanage days. Through the years, the three of us had become an unbeatable team and we were more like a family now than a gang._

Unable to find the team van among the list of racers, he put on a disguise and asked around. He soon got his answer and headed for the local Demolition Derby.

_Murray had been living his dream on the pro-driving circuit where his fan had become famous, or rather infamous, for all the crashes he caused. Eventually, he was unable to find a sponsor due to his high insurance premiums._

* * *

_And he moved into Demolition Derby, where he remained undefeated._

And indeed, Bentley found him celebrating a first place win in the stadium. As soon as the award ceremony was over, the two reunited, Murray happily squeezing the turtle briefly before putting him down.

Bentley gestured to the Cooper van: a van with flames painted on it with the Cooper symbol acting as a bumper. Murray briefly wondered what was going on.

_When Bentley showed up, however, Murray dropped everything to help out. Especially when Bentley explained that his van was the key to the whole plan._

* * *

Back in the present, Sly quickly changed clothes to a blue shirt with yellow collar, blue shoes and beret, blackand blue gloves with yellow cuffs along with a brown back pack and leg pouch and made his way to the Cooper Gang's hideout, where Bentley and Murray were waiting.

Murray happily gave his comrade a high five. Sly would've felt the same way, but his hand was in pain from the slap.

_With Carmelita distracted by a new assignment, I took the opportunity to slip away, and met up with the guys at our old Paris hideout._

Bentley instructed the other two to take a seat on the couch before beginning a presentation in the main room of the hideout. Murray took out some Popcorn and started eating, while Sly directed his attention to the Thievious Raccoonus that he was setting up along with the presentation.

During the presentation, Bentley gave the book to Sly...who opened it and saw more of its contents disappearing.

_Bentley launched into one of his elaborate presentations and I saw the whole scary picture. Someone or something was literally erasing Cooper history. Then, to our amazement, Bentley revealed that he already had the solution: time travel._

He revealed a clock mechanism that was sparking from its hands. So, the gang got to work and rigged up the mechanism to the van. The trio then grabbed their gear and loaded up the van with other things needed for the trip ahead of them.

_It turns out his top-secret project was constructing a time machine! And now, he modified the design to fit into Murray's van. We were going to travel back in time, stop those responsible, and fix the damage they'd done._

Before the trip, however, Bentley tossed a picture of a Japanese dagger to Sly, saying that they needed that item in order to go to that era of time. Sly thankfully knew where they could find it...

_Bentley explained that the only catch was in order to travel to a particular time, the machine required an object from _that_ era. We knew from the changes to the Thievious Raccoonus that our first stop was Feudal Japan._

_So here we were...about to steal a priceless 17__th__ century dagger from the same museum I've been casing._

_Funny how things work out sometimes._


	3. Museum Heist Part 1

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

Later that night, the Cooper Van parallel parked somewhere in an alley. Cloaked by shadows, the Cooper Gang got out of the Van's back doors and snuck through the alleyways. "Okay, you both remember the plan, right?" Bentley asked.

"Of course!" Murray answered. "My mind is like a steel cap!"

"Uh, that's 'trap', Big Guy," Sly corrected. "And everybody relax! We've been over it a million times. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Famous last words!" Bentley reminded him. "Look, we're only going to get one shot at this, so we can't mess up!"

"All right, no messing up allowed," Sly affirmed. "Now, stop worrying! This is gonna be a piece of cake. I'll see you both inside. Now, let's get going!"

All three member of the Cooper trio split up: Bentley going into the sewers, Murray heading east, while Sly climbed up a pipe and jumped onto the rooftops of a house near the museum. Sly made his way across the rooftops but had to stop when he heard helicopter blades. "Whoa!" he yelped before ducking behind a crate.

"Careful, Sly! Those security choppers are bad news," Bentley warned from the Binocucom's communication device.

Once the helicopter was out of sight, Sly made his way across the rooftops. He stopped to find a security chopper and a few points he could ninja spire jump on. Once the security light was out of view, he jumped onto a point and made his way up to some wire that he started to walk on. "Avoid those choppers, Sly!" Bentley warned. "If they see you now, we're busted!"

"I think I can handle that," he told him.

Along the way, the raccoon stopped to find Murray riding on the roof of one of the yellow delivery trucks. Murray gave Sly a thumbs up to signal that he was getting ready. "Hey, Bentley, was truck surfing part of Murray's entrance strategy?" Sly asked. The truck made a right turn.

"Of course not! Murray's approach route is through the back alleys," Bentley told him on the other end. "Why do you ask?"

"Ah...no reason," he replied. "Anyway, it looks like he's in position now."

After another warning from Bentley, Sly made his way onto another portion of the rooftops and climbed up a rusty pole. The pole bent over, but it didn't hinder the raccoon, for he made his way to the top and started to shimmy his way across the windows of a housing complex.

Paying no mind to the scream that was heard inside, he jumped off once he found solid ground. While making his way onto a billboard sign, he found that security was much more beefed up than usual for a museum and was nearly spotted by a security chopper.

He eventually found his way to a flagpole that got to a skylight and started climbing up it. The pole was rusty, however, and it bent over, nearly causing him to fall off it. "Guess I'm a little out of practice," he noted before getting to the top side.

"You say something, Sly?" Bentley asked from communication channels.

"Uh, no," he lied. "All good here, Bentley."

"Okay, looks like you're going to have to find another way up," the turtle's voice told him. "Use that ledge to move around to the front of the museum. And stay out of that security light!"

"I think I can handle that," Sly said.

He jumped, swung off the pole with his cane, and landed near the museum's skylight. While pressing forward, he was amazed at the security outside the place. Eventually, he found the skylight, but learned it was locked down. It being locked down wouldn't be a problem for Sly Cooper.

He picked the guard's pocket from behind him while he wasn't looking and eventually found a gold key that unlocked the skylight. Sly grabbed the rat with his cane and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out for the count.

He whistled casually while twirling the key around his finger, approaching the lock to the skylight. He unlocked the lock and gave the hinge a good smack, moving it aside. Opening the window, he found a samurai dagger with a red hilt inside a glass case with security lasers around it.

"Okay, Bentley, I'm in place," Sly notified. "Let me know when you shut down the security system."

* * *

Within the sewers of Paris, Bentley got the map of the sewer system via a touch screen computer equipped to his wheelchair. "Patience, Sly," he told him, closing out the screen. "You can't rush greatness, and I'm about to code a hacking masterpiece."


	4. Museum Heist Part 2

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

"Interesting," Bentley began, approaching a set of bars. "The last time I was in these sewers, I was just a teenager. My bombs should make short work of that grate."

The mechanical arms dropped a flashing bomb nearby and the turtle got out of the way. The bomb exploded, destroying the grate. "Well, that was a blast," he joked, chuckling a bit.

He noted the filth every once in a while during his trek through the sewers. Bentley eventually made his way to a grate below him. 'According to the schematics, the control room should be right below me,' he thought. 'All I have to do is place some explosives...'

He planted a bomb and got out of the way. The bomb exploded, taking out the grate. 'And, voila! Instant shortcut!' he finished.

Bentley dropped down to below the hole. He would have landed onto a flashing security system had the hands not caught the edges in time. He swung off and landed in front of the panel.

"Phew! Talk about your close shaves!" Bentley said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"How's that security system coming along, Bentley?" Sly asked through communicator.

"Uh, great!" Bentley replied, turning around. "Perfect! I'll be done in a jiffy!"

"Mm-hmm..." Sly replied, seeing through his hasty reply.

The turtle sighed while hovering past another security floor. 'Next time, I'm giving Sly the sewer job,' he reminded himself, making his way to the control room.

He took out the guards patrolling the area with some bombs, approached the computer, and jacked in.

_Commencing hack._

Once the screen changed, Bentley got to work. "Hello, old friend," he greeted. "We have to reach the main docking gate before the security code flushes us out!"

* * *

The turtle tanker made its way through the systems, breaking down firewalls and collecting data keys to unlock locks. If a much bigger firewall was present, it was upgraded to a tank in order to break it apart.

Once it unlocked the final lock with a data key, it spun its turret to signal victory.

_Hack complete._

* * *

"And that's the way the codebase crumbles!" Bentley declared proudly, the mechanical hands dusting themselves off.

* * *

In the back alleys of the museum, Murray stood in position by the gates of a warehouse. "Okay, Murray, you're on!" Bentley notified by communicator, the doors opening.

"The Murray is _always _on, Bentley!" Murray told him with excitement.

The hippo leapt into action, flexing his muscles before punching the palm of his hand with his fist. He turned around and headed through the entrance.


	5. Museum Heist Part 3

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

Making his way through the entrance, a few rat guards spotted the intruder in the area and attacked. Though bulky, Murray more than made up for that with strength, punching rat guards into submission.

"Oh, Thunder Flop, how I missed you!" he said after he belly flopped onto a guard. He narrowly dodged some gas bombs before taking out the rats that were firing them.

He continued to make his way through the alleys while on occasion throwing a taunt to the rat guards he knocked out on the way.

"All right, make your way to the loading dock," Bentley instructed. "You need to take out all of the guards before I can open the gate.

He did so by spinning while punching a few times. The warehouse door opened up and the hippo went inside. Murray took a look around the inside of the warehouse. It was empty...

"Huh?"

...save for one lone rat guard that popped out of his hiding place.

"Where did you come from, short stuff?" Murray asked in confusion.

Rat guards soon popped up from their hiding spots and ambushed the hippo, sending him to the ground. Murray struggled to get up.

"You little guys! You're just not tough enough!" Murray told them, gathering up all the strength he could muster. The rats continued to beat him down.

With a mighty roar, he released all of his pent-up strength, sending the rats flying off of him and crashing into anything in sight. **"That felt GREAT!" **he yelled, having never been this excited in a long while.

"Uh, everything okay, Murray?" Bentley asked.

"Now it is!" Murray replied, flexing his muscles.

The alarm system activated, and Murray quickly worked to destroy the two junction boxes by grabbing some barrels and throwing them at the boxes. Once they were smashed, the alarm stopped.


	6. Museum Heist Part 4

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

Within the exhibit containing the dagger, the lasers blinked a few time before shutting off. "Okay, Sly, the security system is down," Bentley told him via communication channels. "You're all clear."

"Great! I'm going in," Sly replied, jumping down. This was the fun part to him.

The cable attached to his back slowed his fall and he stopped right near the dagger. He felt for anything out of the ordinary and then took the dagger. He then placed a calling card in the spot where the dagger was.

As soon as he was about to pull up, the door to the left of him opened, a familiar face coming in. "What the?" Sly asked in surprise.

"You didn't really think you were gonna get away with it, did you, ringtail?" Carmelita asked, now clad in her Interpol uniform, and with her trusty Shock Pistol at the ready.

"Hey, Carmelita!" he greeted. "Funny meeting you here."

"Sly Cooper, you no-good, lying thief!" Carmelita began, clearly angry. "I'm locking you up for good!"

"Sorry, gotta take a rain check!" Sly told her, pulling himself upward and out the window. He peeked out. "I'll call you!"

His response was some electric shots. With that, he slipped away.

"COOPER!" a furious Carmelita yelled.

* * *

"Good evening, this is Sly Cooper," the raccoon began back outside the museum, sheathing the dagger. "I'd like to request a ride."

As if on cue, helicopters found him. "Cute, Sly," Bentley told him. "Now, quit messing around and get down here! We're in the van and ready to roll!"

He jumped off and raced over to some pillars. Shots were fired from exterminator cans, but all of them missed their mark. "Au revoir," he bade to his enemies and jumped off.

He made it to the other side and landed on the roof of the van. "Let's hit it!" Sly told his crew, tapping the roof with his cane.

"Buckle up, boys!" Murray instructed, hitting the gas and speeding off. "Oh, yeah! Just like in the demolition derby!"

The van sped its way through the alleys, the front bumper wrecking anything in sight. Sly tried to keep his balance, which was not an easy feat to do when the van was running at ninety miles per hour and crashed into things on occasion. Along the way, security vans and rat exterminators chased after them and tried to corner them, and the raccoon could make out the siren of Carmelita's car in the distance.

"Look out!" Bentley yelled in panic.

A crash came and then a yelp followed soon after.

"I think I cracked my shell..." the turtle moaned.

A swerve to the left and they sped past the museum's garden.

"Watch out for those trees!" he warned.

The three made their way to the museum entrance. "Where are you going?" Bentley asked, already recovering from frenzied nerves.

"Just setting up for the jump!" Murray answered, stopping abruptly near the gates.

He drove away, ramming a security van aside. "Welcome to Air Murray!" he greeted, using a fallen rock as a ramp to jump over to an alley. "Thanks for flying!"

They landed safely on the cobblestone path. Taking it as a sign that it was safe to jump in, Sly did so. "Nice landing, Murray," he complimented.

He soon spotted vans and helicopters blocking the way ahead of them. "Hey, Bentley, not to complain, but we're kind of trapped here," he noted.

"Relax, Sly," Bentley assured. "Just put the dagger in the receptacle."

He took out the dagger and put it in a glass container.

"Perfect," Bentley said. He punched some numbers into the time machine. "Isotopic decay calibrated, adjusting fusion synthesis..."

A beep signified that they were ready to go. "Anytime you want to punch it, Murray!"

"You got it, chum!" Murray affirmed, adjusting the stick shift before stepping on the gas.

"Do _not_ slow down, Murray!" Bentley told him, rockets appearing from the back of the trunk.

"I never do!" Murray replied.

All three hung on for their lives while time and space was warped around them. They sped into a rift in time, losing their license plate in the process.


	7. Last-Minute

The Sly Cooper series is by Sucker Punch and Sanzaru Games.

* * *

When Carmelita found Sly on the museum's security cameras, she was more than pissed off.

One, she was angry that she lied to him.

Two, she did not expect him to go back to thieving.

Three, he left the force without any sort of note or apology for lying.

And four, frustration was already running between the two, and it wasn't pretty when she exploded. She grabbed her Shock Pistol and shot one of the cameras, destroying it.

_Well, what else can I say about Carmelita? As you can see, our relationship is...complicated. And I just succeeded in upgrading it to "hazardous"._

She grabbed her Shock Pistol and shot one of the cameras, destroying it.

_I certainly wasn't expecting her to crash the party. She'd been so busy with her latest case that I never thought she'd have her eye on me. In fact, I wasn't counting on it. But then, I should have known better than to underestimate Inspector Carmelita Fox._

She was so mad, she immediately raced for the museum and found him just before he headed for the van and took off.

_As much as she liked having fun, Carmelita was serious about her police work. And now, I had a lot of explaining to do. But the plan was in motion and there was no stopping now._

Furious at being unable to catch the thief that had eluded her countless times, she instead caught something else.

_Even though I was thinking I'd need the time machine just to patch things up with Carmelita._

* * *

By the time they had finished setting up, they found that a certain purple skinned iguana wearing a disco suit had arrived and was disco dancing his pants off. He stopped dancing and turned his attention to the trio, where Murray handed the tome over to him.

_Before the heist, we recruited our disco-loving, scuba diving friend Dimitri Lousteau to look after the Thievious Raccoonus. Because it was irreplaceable and the only guide we had, it was far too risky to take the book with us._

The turtle worked to make a communication device for the two via crystals and a pad for harnessing their power. Dimitri took one and placed a magenta top hat and glasses with rhinestone rims on the turtle.

_Bentley had even invented a communication device to allow us to contact Dimitri no matter where or when we traveled. It was perfect for this situation, since it allowed him to update us on any changes to the book while limiting our exposure to his "fashion critiques"._

* * *

_Everything was happening so fast. The past few days were just a blur._

The van raced through the blue auroras that were time and space. Sly put a photo of him and Carmelita sharing a kiss in Paris in between a photo of him, Bentley, and Murray from their childhood and a photo of Bentley with Penelope on the van's sun visor.

_But as we howled through the time vortex, I realized we were in for a _very_ long trip._


End file.
